Presentation

Most of the regional or national groups of
married priests were formed in the 1970s following a hemorrhage without
precedent among the catholic clergy. After
the Second Vatican Council, which was a remarkable “springtime for the church”
( the fresh air of the Gospel, the hope of renewal, dialogue with the modern
world), there was an inevitable quick disillusionment……Humanae Vitae in 1968, then the synod of bishops in 1971, already
gave indications of a return to t\he Vatican II situation, as much in the moral
domain (a dogmatic rigidity on questions of sexuality) as in the domain of
ecclesiology ( a sudden chill , even the manipulation against the attempt to
launch a minimal democratic system). Faced
with that, more than 100.000 catholic priests, all over the world and whatever
their cultures, that is a quarter of the total strength, married and were
forced to leave their ministry, sometimes also their surroundings, their
family, their domicile, the majority of
them obtaining easily enough from Rome a canonical dispensation from celibacy.

Without any doubt the vitality of these
groups was a response as much to a personal as to a social necessity. These priests and their partners, and
sometimes even their children were compelled to bear the weight of a guilt
which was very often baseless but which trapped them in a suspicious silence. To talk together, to support each other, to
help each other and to welcome others has been the principal, and perhaps the
most important, function of these friendship groups. However, a shared reflection, the desire to
give meaning to the experience acquired without any nostalgic longings, the
inability to submit to the passive attitude so often imposed on the faithful,
have led these groups of married priests to engage in a second, more militant
and more structured, function in the setting up of “renewed ministries”. This commitment was well received by a good
many priests who had remained in service, sometimes well beyond retirement age,
and of lay associations longin for democracy and reform. Particularly at the international level this
struggle has benefited from the researches and the different developments that
nourished the three yearly congresses of the International Federation of
Married Catholic Priests.

However, it is not an overstatement to say
that what motivated these groups 20, 30 or 40 years ago is still current, and
perhaps more so today than ever. The
scandals of sexual abuse among the clergy, the carefully maintained silence
concerning the clandestine relationships of priests, the systematic refusal to
open up the debate about the obligatory law of celibacy, the prohibition
against even discussing the rights of women in the church and their
participation in decision making, the sealing off of the clerical
administration of communities with the importing of foreign clergy are just as
many building sites which continue to make demands on us and provoke our
speaking out and our commitments…